Ahmed El Maanouni

Jury Member

Ahmed El Maanouni (b. 1944) is a Moroccan screenwriter, film director, cinematographer, actor and producer. He studied cinema at the INSAS in Brussels and theatre at the Université du Théâtre des Nations in Paris. His films include Alyam Alyam / Oh the Days (1978), the first Moroccan film to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival, and winner of the Grand Prize at the Mannheim Film Festival. He caught international attention when his film Trances (1981) was honored and presented by Martin Scorsese at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival to inaugurate the World Cinema Foundation. His film Burned Hearts (2007) won the Grand Prize at the National Film Festival, and was awarded many international prizes. His documentary films consistently interrogate colonial history and its impact on Moroccan memory. He directs study groups and educational programs in Morocco and throughout the world. In 2007 he has been honored with the title of Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.

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